Greenergy has begun road-loading of diesel and heating oil at Thames Oilport, giving it a supply location in the South East of England.

The company said the opening of road loading facilities is another significant milestone in the regeneration of the site, to turn the former refinery into a modern import terminal capable of meeting growing fuel demand in the South East.

Twelve months ago Thames Oilport received its first shipments of diesel and opened for ship-in/ ship-out storage. This allowed then company to benefit from contango market conditions and at year end it had more than 250 million litres of diesel stored at the facility.

Over the last year additional refurbishment has included upgraded automated road-loading facilities, new driver facilities, work on new additive systems and a new control system, which together allow the tankage also to be used for diesel and gasoil throughput and truck loading.

Andrew Owens, Greenergy chief executive, said: “The regeneration of Thames Oilport continues to be a key development project for Greenergy, providing capacity for expansion and improved supply resilience in the busy south-east region, an area of population and demand growth.

“As we expand our sales from the facility, we will have the ability to receive product on larger ships onto Thames Oilport’s deep-water jetties, further improving our access to global markets.”

The next phase of regeneration at Thames Oilport will enable petrol storage and road supply.